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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL.104,NO.80
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1995
ADVERTISING:864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS: 864-4810
FBI investigates racial incidents at KU
Hate messages found at Jayhawker Towers
By Teresa Veazey Kansan staff writer
After a night out with friends last December, Eric Vann, El Dorado freshman, returned to his apartment at Jayhawk Tower to find urine on the floor and clothes thrown everywhere.
The perpetrators signed out with a message of hate.
"Next time it's your ass, nigger. KKK," someone wrote on Vann's memo board. "KKK" was spelled out with sand on the living room floor.
Vann wasn't alone last semester. In October, an apartment door at Jayhawker Towers was vandalized with racial slurs.
Now the FBI is looking at reports from both cases. Topeka FBI officials contacted KU police a week after the second incident and offered assistance in finding out whether the victims' civil rights were violated.
"We have forwarded reports to them, so they know what the cases are about," said Sgt. Rose Rozmiarek of the KU police. "We are handling the actual crimes
themselves, whereas they are more interested in civil rights violations."
Max Geiman, a representative for the FBI, said the bureau and KU police had been working together to provide information to the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington to determine whether the crimes violated the victims' civil rights.
Attorneys for the department decide whether the crimes merit further investigation and if suspects can be prosecuted for violating victims' civil rights.
"The Department of Justice and the FBI take very seriously allegations of violations of civil rights," Geiman said. "These are against the law."
Geiman said the FBI would not take the crimes light-
1v.
"Pranks can turn into serious crimes," he said. "Students need to think twice before they do something of this nature."
On Jan. 13, KU police issued a KU Crime Stoppers bulletin encouraging people to call with information about either crime. The filers have been posted on bulletin boards in residence halls and Jayhawker Towers. Rozmiarek of the KU police said both cases still were being investigated.
Anyone with information about the crimes should call KU Crime Stoppers at 864-8888. Callers can remain anonymous, and if the information leads to an arrest, they may be eligible for a cash reward.
The winner takes it all...
Kansas guard Jacque Vaughn rolls the ball off of his fingers to score after being fouled in the second half of last night's game in Allen Field House. The Jayhawks defeated Kansas State 78-74.
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
Ben Zimmerman, leader of Simply Equal, speaks to Mayor Jo Andersen and Commissioner Doug Compton as Dennis Saleebie, chairman of the KU TaskForce on Gay and Lesbian Concerns, looks on. They met at City Hall yesterday to discuss adding the words "sexual orientation" into the city's human-rights ordinance.
Kathleen Driscoll / KANSAN
Lawrence staff to study sexual orientation issue
Kansan staff writer
By Sarah Morrison
The Lawrence City Commission, in yesterday's study session, asked the city staff to conduct a study on whether to add the words "sexual orientation" to the Lawrence human-relations ordinance.
The commission plans to set a deadline for the results at next Tuesday's city commission meeting.
During the session, the group supporting the change and the opposing group were each given 15 minutes to present arguments to the commission. Following each presentation, commissioners asked the speakers questions. The commission then held a 30-minute discussion to decide what course of action it would take on the issue.
Ben Zimmerman, co-chairman of Simply Equal, the coalition that proposed the amendment, urged the commissioners to adopt the amendment. The change would send a message to the Lawrence community that discrimination against gay, lesbian, and bisexual would not be tolerated and would give people legal recourse if such discrimination occurred.
The Rev. Leo Barbee, who opposes the proposal, told commissioners that adding the words "sexual orientation" to the city ordinance would contribute to what he called a gay agenda set up by homosexuals to corrupt people and to take over positions of power.
Barbee also said homosexuality was a deviant behavior that did not merit protection by civil rights laws that were reserved for minorities.
Mayor Jo Andersen compared the arguments of the opposition to rhetoric she heard from
Andersen said students at her high school were forced to watch films that depicted Black civil rights activists as communists trying to take over the country.
"It's the same song, second verse," Andersen said.
Vice-Mayor Bob Moody said he would like to see the issue go on the ballot because he believed it was an issue the voters should decide.
"I don't think we can legislate tolerance," Moody said, "We have to educate."
Andersen said that if civil rights issues had gone on the ballot in the '60s, they never would have passed.
"For the most part, the majority doesn't see the discrimination." Andersen said. "It's the minority you have to go to find out if discrimination exists."
Commissioner Doug Compton said he had too many questions about the impact such a change in the ordinance would have on the city. He said he wanted the staff to look into his and any other concerns the commissioners might have before he would be willing to vote on the issue.
Commissioner John Nalbandian expressed concern about the proposal being the only campaign issue and wanted to set the due date for the study with the elections in mind.
"It seems to me, either we've got to get it done right away or we've got to get it done after the upcoming election," he said. "If this gets presented to us a week before the election or two weeks before the election, then it becomes the only issue in the election."
KU students grocery shop at different places and for different reasons.
Food for thought
Page 8A
Wilcox collection inspired by political extremists
Wilcox's history makes up library
Laird Wilcox has seen the Ku Klux Klan up close. He's talked with the Black Panthers. He's met '60s radical Abbie Hoffman and cult leader Jim Jones.
By Ian Ritter Kansan staff writer
At 51, the Oathe resident and former KU student has hung out with almost every type of political extremist in the United States, from racists to people that want to overthrow the government.
For Wilcox, political extremism is a passion.
The legacy of his interest is at the University of Kansas is the Wilcox Collection, a collection of about
The collection was started in 1965, but Wilcox continues to bring in boxes of pamphlets, books or other materials every few months.
90,000 flyers, 12,000 books and 800 audio tapes representing thousands of extremists groups across the country. The collection is stored at University Archives in the Kenneth Spencer Library.
Rebecca Schulte, assistant curator of the Kansas Collection, said the collection was unique because of the unusual materials.
"It's a place where a lot of different ideas come together," she said. "Often, these things don't find their way into a library."
Wilcox got interested in political extremism at a young age.
"I started checking out political and religious movements when I was 14," he said. "I'd go to meetings and send off for literature and occasionally
Wilcox traced his interest in political groups to his family background. His aunt and uncle were in the Communist Party. He describes his father as "radical." His mother's side of the family was mostly right-wing Republicans.
subscribe to something and find people to talk to. 'he said.
"As a child, I had the opportunity to see an awful lot of political discussion, a lot of emotion and strong feelings and things like that," he said. "I always wondered what it was about these abstractions and these ideas that made people so upset."
As a KU student in 1962, Wilcox was a leftist.
"That was where my inclinations were and that was where all of the intelligent people were anyway," he said. "And it felt good. Liberalism
See WILCOX. Page 3A
Paul Kotz / KANANAR Laird Wilcox stands in front of books he donated to the University. The books are part of a collection on extremist literature in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library.